Entry guides

ABSTRACT

A roller type entry guide is provided for wire rod mills and comprises an intake funnel, guide rollers disposed in advance of the intake funnel about the run-through axis of the stock, each roller being journalled in the end of a lever pivoted about an axis transverse to the run-through axis and biased towards the run-through axis by a spring and an adjusting screw acting on each lever to counteract the spring force.

United States Patent [191 Boehmer I ENTRY GUIDES [75] Inventor: Friedhelln Boehmer, Neuss, Germany [73] Assignee: Firma Friedrich Kocks, Dusseldorf, Germany [22] Filed: Jan. 24, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 220,255

[30] Foreign Application Priority Data Feb. 2, 1971 Germany G 71 03 936.6

[52] US. Cl. 72/250 [51] Int. Cl. B2lb 39/20 [58] Field of Search 72/250, 227

[56] References Cited FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 811,623 4/1959 Great Britain 72/250 Oct. 16, 1973 1,025,369 3/1958 Germany 72/250 Primary Examiner-Milton S. Mehr Att0rneyBuell, Blenko & Ziesenheim [5 7] ABSTRACT A roller type entry guide is provided for wire rod mills and comprises an intake funnel, guide rollers disposed in advance of the intake funnel about the run-through axis of the stock, each roller being journalled in the end of a lever pivoted about an axis transverse to the run-through axis and biased towards the run-through axis by a spring and an adjusting screw acting on each lever to counteract the spring force.

8 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures PATENTEUUCI 1 61973 SHEET 10? 2 ENTRY GUIDES This invention relates to entry guides and particularly to a roller-type entry guide for a wire rod rolling stand, in which guide rollers, which are distributed about the run-through axis of the stock to be rolled, are positioned behind an intake funnel.

In wire rolling mills (rod mills), roller-type entry guides are frequently installed immediately before the rolling stands to ensure that the stock to be rolled is fed exactly centrally into the-rolling stand. Another function of the entry guides is to prevent the wire breaking or stopping.

In an already proposed roller-type entry guide the guide rollersare journalled to the ends of fixed levers, which in themselves are resilient in order to bias the guide rollers towards the stock to be rolled. Having sufficiently high strength, in order to obtain the adequately large travel of the spring system, which is necessary, for example, when the thickened ends of the stock are passing through, the levers must be relatively long, which enlarges the dimensions of the entry guide. In addition, it is not possible to alter the spring force, an important aspect when, for instance, preparing the equipment for rolling stock of different cross sections.

The invention therefore sets out to provide a rollertype entry guide, which has small dimensions, can be adjusted to comply with the cross section of the stock to be rolled and is also of simple construction.

In accordance with the invention, the guide rollers are journalled in respective levers arranged so as to pivot about respective axes transverse to the runthrough axis and each lever is adjacent to a spring whereby the guide rollers are urged towards the runthrough axis, an adjusting screw counteracting the spring force preferably being provided.

Advantageously each spring comprises a leaf spring or a leaf spring stack perpendicular to the respective lever, and each lever has a knife edge by which the lever engages the leaf spring or leaf spring stack, the

knife edge being perpendicular to the leaf spring or spring stack. An entry guide of this type is eminently suitable for use in connection with a three-roller stand, in which three levers offset at 120 to one another are provided adjacent to leaf springs or leaf spring stacks arranged substantially in the form of an equilateral triangle.

Conveniently the springs act upon the ends of the levers which are remote from the guide rollers. The respective adjusting screw can then be provided at the same lever end as the spring, but on the side of the lever end opposite the spring. The intake funnel and the levers for journalling the guide rollers are preferably placed in a common housing. The adjusting screws can be disposed radially in the cylindrical wall of a cup-like part having an opening in its base, said part being pushed from the entry side detachably over the housing. The cup-like part, the opening in the base of which is smaller than the external diameter of the intake funnel, can simultaneously be used to secure the intake funnel in the housing.

The invention is further described by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal section of one embodiment of entry guide, according to the invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross section along the line II-II of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a cross section along the line III-III of FIG. 1.

The embodiment of roller-type entry guide shown in the drawings, is intended fora three-roller rolling stand and so has three guide rollers 2 angularly offset by relative to one another, which are located in spaces between the three rollers forming the sizing gap. For reasons of clarity, FIG. 1 indicates the top roller 4 only by means of phantom lines. The guide rollers 2, of which only the lower one can be seen in FIG. I, are journalled in the ends of respective levers 6, which are pivoted about spindles 10 disposed in a housing 8. Moreover, the spindles 10 are perpendicular to the through-feed axis 12 of the stock to be rolled, so that the guide rollers 2 can be moved towards and away from the stock. The ends 14 of the levers, at the sides of the spindles 10 remote from the guide rollers 2, lie against leaf spring stacks 16 arranged perpendicular to the levers, and between the levers and the rolling axis 12 so that the rollers are spring biassed towards the stock to be rolled. As shown in FIG. 3 the leaf spring stacks 16 substantially form an equilateral triangle. On the side facing towards the spring stack 16, the lever ends 14 have knife-edge projections 18 running perpendicular to the springs to produce a predetermined line of contact of the lever with the outer spring of the respective leaf spring stack.

A respective adjusting screw 20 acts upon each lever end 14 adjacent to the leaf spring stack 16 on the side opposite the leaf spring stack, the adjusting screw counteracting the spring force and limiting the movement of the guide rollers 2 towards the stock to be rolled. The adjusting screws 20 are disposed radially in the cylindrical wall 22 of a cap-like part 26 having an opening 24 in its base, this part 26 being pushed from the entry side over the housing 8, to which it is detachably fastened by means of screws 28. The adjusting screws 20 can be adjusted from outside the pot-shaped mounted part 26 and are secured by lock-nuts 30.

The three leaf spring stacks 16 are housed within the cylindrical wall 22 of the cap-like part 26 and are arranged at the corners of an equilateral triangle. The spring of each stack 16 lying nearest to the rolling axis 12 is furthermore supported at each end on a projection 32 on the housing 8 extending forwardly of the housing at its intake side.

The opening 24 in the base of the cap-like part 26 is smaller than the external diameter of an intake funnel 34 fitted into the housing 8 from the entry side, and held firmly in position by the part 26.

After loosening the screws 28, the cap-like part 26 can be removed from the housing 8 and, to facilitate such removal, a hand lever 36 extends radially outwardly from the part 26. After the cap-like part 26 has been removed, the leaf spring stacks can easily be taken out and replaced by other spring stacks with appropriate spring constants. If desired, only one leaf spring can be taken out of or added to each springstack 16. When the cap-like part 26 has been removed, the intake funnel 34 can be pulled out towards the entry side with ease and substituted by another.

The housing 8 of the entry guide is attached to the base 40 of the respective stand by means of a clamping device 38 and is connected to the cooling water circuit of the stand and is cooled by the cold water, which flows through channels 42, 44 and 46 provided in the interior of the housing for this purpose. The water runs out of the housing 8 through outlet passages 48 radially directed towards the rollers 4, so that the out flowing water serves to cool the rollers 4.

In the foregoing specification l have set out certain preferred embodiments and practices of my invention, however, it will be understood that this invention may be otherwise embodied within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A roller type entry guide for a wire rod rolling stand comprising an intake funnel, guide rollers disposed beyond the intake funnel and distributed about the run-through axis of the stock, each guide roller bieng journalled in the end of a lever pivoted about a respective axis transverse to said run-through axis, a spring acting on each lever to bias the respective guide roller towards said run-through axis and a respective adjusting screw for each lever, the adjusting screw acting to counteract the spring force, each said spring comprising a leaf spring or a leaf spring stack perpendicular to the respective lever which engages the leaf spring or spring stack by a knife edge perpendicular to the leaf spring or the spring stack.

2. An entry guide as claimed in claim 1, especially for use in connection with a three-roller stand, in which there are three levers offset at 120 relative to one another and the leaf springs or leaf spring stacks are arranged substantially in the form of an equilateral triangle.

3. An entry guide as claimed in claim 2, in which the springs act perpendicularly to the run-thrugh axis upon the ends of the levers remote from the guide rollers and on the opposite side of the pivotal axis thereto.

4. An entry guide as claimed in claim 3, in which the respective adjusting screw acts upon the same lever end as the spring but on the side of the lever end opposite the spring. An entry guide as claimed in claim 1, in which the intake funnel and the levers are arranged in a common housing.

6. A roller type entry guide for a wire rod rolling stand comprising an intake funnel, guide rollers disposed beyond the intake funnel and distributed about the run-through axis of the stock, each guide roller being journalled in the end of a lever pivoted about a respective axis transverse to said run-through axis, a spring acting on each lever to bias the respective guide roller towards said run-through axis and a respective adjusting screw for each lever, the adjusting screw acting to counteract the spring force, said intake funnel and levers being arranged in a common housing, and said adjusting screws being disposed radially in the cylindrical wall of a cap-like part whose base has an opening for the stock to be rolled, said part being pushed from the entry side detachably on to the housing.

7. An entry guide as claimed in claim 6, in which the leaf springs or leaf spring stacks are housed within the cylindrical wall of the cap-like part.

8. An entry guide as claimed in claim 6, in which the opening in the base of the cap-like part is smaller in diameter than the external diameter of the intake funnel. k i

imrrrn STATES PATENT @FHCE CERHHCATE CF COERECHON Patent No- 3.765.214 D t d October 16, 1973 Inventor(s) Friedhelm Boehmer It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are herebycorrected, as shown below:

Column 3, Claim 1, line 16 "hieng should be -being-..

Column 4, Claim 3, line 1, "run-thrugh" should be --run-through.

Claim 4 should read:

An entry guide as claimed in claim 3, in which the respective adjusting screw acts upon the same lever end as the spring but on the side of the lever end opposite the spring.

Claim 5 should read:

An entry guide as claimed in claim 1, in which the intake funnel and the levers are arranged in a common housing.

Signed and sealed this 15th day of January 197A.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M. FLETCHELJR. RENE D. TEGTMEYER Attesting Officer Acting Commissioner of Patents FORM PO-1050 (IO-69) USCOMM-DC 60376-P59 u.s GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE was o-ass-ssa. A 

1. A roller type entry guide for a wire rod rolling stand comprising an intake funnel, guide rollers disposed beyond the intake funnel and distributed about the run-through axis of the stock, each guide roller being journalled in the end of a lever pivoted about a respective axis transverse to said run-through axis, a spring acting on each lever to bias the respective guide roller towards said run-through axis and a respective adjusting screw for each lever, the adjusting screw acting to counteract the spring force, each said spring comprising a leaf spring or a leaf spring stack perpendicular to the respective lever which engages the leaf spring or spring stack by a knife edge perpendicular to the leaf spring or the spring stack.
 2. An entry guide as claimed in claim 1, especially for use in connection with a three-roller stand, in which there are three levers offset at 120* relative to one another and the leaf springs or leaf spring stacks are arranged substantially in the form of an equilateral triangle.
 3. An entry guide as claimed in claim 2, in which the springs act perpendicularly to the run-through axis upon the ends of the levers remote from the guide rollers and on the opposite side of the pivotal axis thereto.
 4. An entry guide as claimed in claim 3, in which the respective adjusting screw acts upon the same lever end as the spring but on the side of the lever end opposite the spring.
 5. An entry guide as claimed in claim 1, in which the intake funnel and the levers are arranged in a common housing.
 6. A roller type entry guide for a wire rod rolling stand comprising an intake funnel, guide rollers disposed beyond the intake funnel and distributed about the run-through axis of the stock, each guide roller being journalled in the end of a lever pivoted about a respective axis transverse to said run-through axis, a spring acting on each lever to bias the respective guide roller towards said run-through axis and a respective adjusting screw for each lever, the adjusting screw acting to counteract the spring force, said intake funnel and levers being arranged in a common housing, and said adjusting screws being disposed radially in the cylindrical wall of a cap-like part whose base has an opening for the stock to be rolled, said part being pushed from the entry side detachably on to the housing.
 7. An entry guide as claimed in claim 6, in which the leaf springs or leaf spring stacks are housed within the cylindrical wall of the cap-like part.
 8. An entry guide as claimed in claim 6, in which the opening in the base of the cap-like part is smaller in diameter than the external diameter of the intake funnel. 